This publication emerges from the 2023 London Design Biennale. It involves an international working group facilitated by Delany Boutkan and Setareh Noorani, both researchers at the Nieuwe Instituut, which confronted the intricate and often uncomfortable dynamics of collaboration. Through public sessions and intimate dialogues in London and Rotterdam, the realities of collaboration and collectivity were examined. Two transcripts from the public events are reworked in this publication, along with essays by contributors that push against the established frameworks of international cultural events, including biennales, which remain siloed in geographic and geopolitical terms.

This publication emerges from the 2023 London Design Biennale. It involves an international working group facilitated by Delany Boutkan and Setareh Noorani, both researchers at the Nieuwe Instituut, which confronted the intricate and often uncomfortable dynamics of collaboration. Through public sessions and intimate dialogues in London and Rotterdam, the realities of collaboration and collectivity were examined. Two transcripts from the public events are reworked in this publication, along with essays by contributors that push against the established frameworks of international cultural events, including biennales, which remain siloed in geographic and geopolitical terms.